Using ICT, the NTT Communications Group is working on a range of research and development projects with the aim of achieving a society of ubiquitous networks where everybody can communicate freely with a sense of security. Electronic tags, known variously as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, ID tags, and wireless IC tags, are identification tags that communicate using radio signals. They are starting to find general use in fields like product inventory management, distribution management, and traceability management (production history) for food products.

NTT Communications is developing basic technology (“m2m-x”) that enables IPv6 networks to be used more easily. Building on this know-how and record of achievement, we aim to link IPv6 networks with electronic tag technology to expand their range of application. To this end, we are carrying out a number of relevant demonstration experiments.

* IPv6: A next-generation Internet protocol with expanded address space, built-in security functions, and simultaneous delivery to multiple locations among other improvements. The protocol allows tens of millions of non-PC terminals to connect securely to IP networks in order to process information from as many as 10 billion RFID tags.

Passive Tags−the Key to Replacing Position Sensors

In this test, position information sensor functions were centrally managed by an external computer using electronic tags and an IPv6 network, exploiting the ability of robots to move precisely over wide areas to provide directions in a shopping mall. This demonstration experiment was carried out in the huge Diamond Silk City Lucle shopping center in Kasuya, Fukuoka, in February 2006. First, customers indicated where they wanted to go from the places shown on the touch panel of the robot. In order to confirm its position, the robot then sent information received from the passive electronic tags used for positioning, embedded at regular intervals in the floors of the shopping mall, to an external computer. The external computer analyzed the information and issued instructions to the robot for moving to the target location. Since the external computer has position information, all that is necessary is a function in the robot for moving according to the instructions. This means that the robots can be made simply and at low cost. In addition, individual shops' information can be picked up from shop information electronic tags, while a variety of information on products, including distributors and manufacturers, is available from electronic tags. Such information can in turn be utilized as a guide for shopping.

Enjoying Remote Shopping through a Proxy Robot

Another type of robot is fitted with a camera and is controlled remotely from a different location using a computer. The robot functioned well as the shoppers' representative, helping the shoppers actually look at the shapes and colors of goods through the image from the camera, reading the product information from electronic tags, and enabling direct dialogue with the shop clerks via a TV screen and voice communication.

Using the results of this sort of trial, it is possible to make simple, low-cost robots that are safe and move with precision. In the near future, people with physical disabilities will be able to ride robots like these, making purchases simply with voice commands, or shopping via a camera-equipped robot controlled remotely with a computer. They are thus expected to play a number of helpful roles in society.

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  ■Shopping navigator robots

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  ■Demonstration experiment for a shopping navigator robot

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See Your Own Make-Up Simply by Selecting Cosmetic Products

Another trial was carried out as part of the IPv6 Information Appliance Research and Development Project of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NiCT) at the Chazawa-Dori Branch of the Seijo drugstore in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward from February to March 2006.

You sit in front of the make-up simulation PC fitted with a camera, and make selections from a range of lipsticks and powders. When you place them on the electronic tag reader, the products you selected are shown applied to an image of your face on the computer screen. With this system, the information in the electronic tags attached to the lipstick and powder products is read by the special tag reader, and is sent via a network to an external computer. Color information is then sent from the external computer and is shown on the screen image. There are other functions too, such as the option to show eye shadow that matches the lipstick and powder selected on the screen.

Anybody Can Use It Without Being Aware of Computers or Communications

The customers who took part in the trial responded very favorably, with comments like: “It's really convenient because you can try out the make-up without putting it on every time,” and “You can see right away whether or not it suits you,” while the shop staff reported that, “There's no need to provide free samples, so it's faster and much less hassle.” Also, valuable real-time marketing data such as which products customers tried could be obtained at the same time.

With this system, neither the customers nor the staff need to be familiar with information technology, but because they can use it easily without being aware of the communications technology or computers, it can truly be said to be a practical example of ubiquitous technology. In this case the technology was used for trying out make-up, but it can be used in a wide range of other applications such as trying on mail-order clothes virtually, or trying out interior coordination possibilities for wallpaper, curtains, sofas and other items in builders' showrooms and furniture shops.

NTT Communications will continue to offer groundbreaking proposals for new business models and lifestyles using ICT.

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